In the fast-becoming-laughable Dover Trail the other side gets a brief struck out by the judge when they try to sneak in testimony from previous supporters of theirs who refuse to appear at the bloodbath.

This one almost got a post to itself. The BBC is cutting back on the number of languages the World Service is broadcast in. Their rational is that those countries are now sufficently on message that they no longer need to be talked into the Western way of doing things. The money saved will be plowed into an Arabic TV station. This is the way to achieve the so-called hearts-and-minds policy so favoured by certain politions – by setting up something that might actually work in a few decades time.

In the mean time the ACLU has classed 21 out of 44 examined deaths in US custody in Afganistan and Iraq as murder.

Its not you and me folks. Specific regions of the genome can be patented for a specific application for example I discover that gene X is involved in obesity I patent the use of that gene in the treatment, diagnosis etc of obesity. i cannot patent the use of gene X for life or copyright the use by a person.